What OT crap are you working on

My son has this 90's Ramcharger we installed on a chassis from an 04 Hemi Durango 4x4. We got it running a few years ago, but he never really finished it any more then it needed to be drive able, it has been his beater for the last couple years. He was growing tired of it and when the plates ran out on it at the end of October, (last month) he decided to park it.
He also has an 01 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup he bought 5 years ago to use mostly to plow his driveway during the winters. The first few years he also used it as his daily transportation until he licensed the Ramcharger, at which point he let the plates on the 01 lapse. As a snow plow for his place (and the guy next door), it doesn't need to be plated.
So, the snow season is upon us. He went through the process of getting the 01 ready for another plowing season. He changed the oil, and did a few other things, then hung the plow back on it (he removes the plow after the season and stores it in his garage). After he parked the 01 along his driveway for the over night, the next morning it wouldn't start. The trouble shooting process leads to a bad computer.
Suddenly the Ramcharger has found new purpose, take the plow set up off the 01 and install it on the Ramcharger, and use it as the new snow plow, and scrap out the 01. The only small problem is, the plow brackets from the 01 don't fit the Durango frame, and brackets for the Durango are $800 and may not be available until after the 1st of the year.

I've made a few snow plow brackets from scratch before, its not as hard as it sounds, but designing them takes 5-6 hours, and actually building them to actually fit on the truck and on the plow, so it works, also takes 5-6 hours. Then we had to do it around his work schedule.
He was off work on Monday (Veteran's Day), so we made the plan on Monday. We would be able to modify the existing brackets from the 01 to work on the Ramcharger. The challenge was, the plow was at his house, and the welding was being done at my house, about 5 miles apart from each other. With the 01 not running, we had no easy was to transport the 8' wide plow with the pump and everything attached to it. Through careful measurements, we managed to get the brackets tack welded together and got them clamped onto the Ramcharger frame by the end on Monday. The test fit went well, but it was Thursday before we could finish welding them together. After that, if the brackets still worked, we would have another brace that needed to be added after we knew everything still worked. The clamped and tack welded brackets worked well. Not only did the plow brackets connect to the plow like they were suppose to, they can also still be removed and reinstalled onto the Ramcharger itself. That meant we could do the finish welding on the bench rather then under the truck. The plow fits on the Ramcharger, and it functions. We welded in that last brace Sat morning.
The only picture I have of the Ramcharger was when it was at my place shortly after the chassis swap, before it was road worthy.

 

My folks had a two door identical to this until sometime in 61, they bought two doors for “safety” with two young kids, I remember riding on the rear window shelf.

 

CamaroBird progress the kid is learning

 

Made a different exhaust system for my 2022 Kawasaki Z 900 RS

 

Well, after my daughter crashed my trailblazer today, I am even more motivated to get hers back together. Today was her birthday so I at least shot white paint on the bottom side of the hood. Now, we just need to do some final sanding and shoot the bumper cover, top side of the hood, and fender and put it all back together. The damage to the trailblazer is minor so I probably won’t even fix it…

 

Time to get a new daughter!

 

That Dude is Heavy Heavy , ask me how I know . Strengthen all you possibly can now .

 

Just finished changing all of my fluorescent lights in the garage and put 55,000 lumens of LED lights.

 

Addressed quick 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd shifting by changing the springs in the governor.

Got the turbo 350 to almost stop leaking.
pan gasket was shot along with the shift shaft seal and dipstick gasket...

I was able to patch the tail shaft seal since it was weeping from the outer part of the seal to tail shaft housing (will address when I get time to service the diff)

The pump seal is the only thing still weeping a bit... that will wait until I pull the engine

Went from massive amounts of fluid in a few days to a maybe few drops here and there over a week.

Now the engine decided to start leaking from the timing cover

 

If the Chebbie ain’t leakin , she ain’t got no oil in her

 

Got myself a new job with a bit more variety than the last. I was put on some reassembly of this Healey that had been blown apart for a repaint.

 

Latest toy 20 yr old F150 flareside. Regular cab with the little flappy doors to get behind the seat. Added a center console, lots of little things.

23 years ago i started on this 1979 Thunderbird. '86 HO engine converted to carb, E303 cam, edelbrock performer, 1406 carb, FMX trans, Torino buckets and console, Old slot wheels, shaved most of the chrome.

 

More paint… Borrowing a buddies paint booth this time. In between clearcoats right now. I’ll shoot at least one more to make sure it is covered good. I’ll be glad to be done with this so I can work on something old. It is good practice painting though.

 

I like em both especially the bird

 

Grandsons 6 and 8 putting 500 caddy on the engine stand.
They do a pretty good job when they aren't messing around.
Sam is the smaller one guiding the motor on the stand.
Hope to get it freshened up and put in the 49' cad this spring.
(My dad used to say 2 boys = 1/2 boy, 3 boys = none.)

 

Finally finished my daughter’s car. She bought it wrecked and we just got done putting it back together. Before and after…

 

She has a smile 10 miles wide!

 

Great job Dad!!!!!!!!

 

....And Merry Christmas!...

 

Since the title of this thread refers to "crap", it might be fitting to insert a George Carlin quote:
"Have you ever noticed that other people's stuff is crap, and your crap is stuff?"
He was truly a logical thinker!

 

She’s definitely glad to have her own car again. She also helped with pretty much everything but the actual painting part.

 

Chased parts and installed new engine and transmission mounts....

If you ever look at the back of an energy suspension engine mount... the part number on the mount is not correct to the mount ...

For my 30 with a 350...

3.1114 on Drivers Side (short) - I already had 2, but pulled the passenger side first and that sent me searching for the correct mount...


3.1117 on Passenger Side (tall) I was lucky enough to find in stock at NPD and bought 2.

Now I have a spare set.

 

been installing a water heater, and fixing the walls and floor around it, all day. But finally finished so now I'm installing cruise control in the Checker.

 

May I ask what is being used for a cruise control? I used a "recycled" unit from a 1994 Caprice.

Ben

 

I found a new (from 6 years ago) Dakota Digital version of the Rostra Global cruise on ebay, for about half the normal price. So I bought it. I have another one of these that I've had for 15 years and used on lots of cars, it's on my Corvette right now.

The GM cruise units from about the mid 80s and later work very well, but I've never tried adapting one to an older car.

 

@guthriesmith - that looks like real pride in ownership! Your paint booth pic has her hood and another one in it. I was gonna goof on you and ask how many you were going to put on one car..
Nice job, she could be a HAMBer yet!

 

Thank you.

Ben

 

Couple of quick pics of Legacy '36, a work in process tribute to my dad.

 

Camaro bird gets it’s inner bracing it’s crazy the requirements of today’s race cars